Annoying Overton helps Huskies handle Cougs

Updated 10:00 pm, Saturday, March 7, 2009

He stands just 5-foot-11, but when Husky sophomore Venoy Overton puffs out his chest and gets after it defensively, he's as big as anybody on the basketball court.

Washington's energetic sixth man played a huge role off the bench in Saturday's Pac-10 Conference championship-clinching victory over Washington State, knocking down 14 points in 20 minutes of play in the 67-60 victory.

But just as importantly, the feisty Franklin High graduate kept the Cougars off-balance with his aggressive defensive tactics, annoying WSU senior Taylor Rochestie to the point where the two exchanged words during a first-half free throw.

"He told me to chill out and I'm not cool," Overton said. "I just said, 'I don't want to be cool.' And that's when Quincy (Pondexter) stepped in."

Pondexter, who escorted Rochestie away from any potential conflict, happened to be sitting beside his highly charged teammate during the post-game interview session.

"I had to look out for the little guy," Pondexter said with a grin. "I didn't want him to get beat up by Rochestie."

Getting under the skin of opposing guards is becoming an Overton trademark. Though Rochestie totaled 23 points, he was just 2-of-8 shooting in the first half and finished with an uncharacteristic five turnovers.

"Venoy Overton is just becoming a giant pest defensively," said Husky coach Lorenzo Romar. "He's like a shot blocker who blocks three shots, but changes four or five more.

"He might get three steals, but he throws the rhythm of others because they don't know where he's at."

Rochestie, however, had no problems finding Overton, given he generally was right in his face. The Cougars senior downplayed any bad blood between the two, but his jaw tightened when discussing the situation.

"It was just two players out there playing the game. There was really nothing to be said," Rochestie said. "We both wanted to win and we had fun playing the game. At the end, it's all on the floor. We both gave each other a high five afterward and I congratulated him on a win and he said, 'Good job.' There was nothing going on out there."

Yet the two bumped and grinded on virtually every trip down the floor, with Rochestie twice throwing himself to the floor in unsuccessful attempts to draw fouls.

"I was just trying to get up and pressure him," Overton said. "He's been really good the last couple games. Basically I tried to do what I do with everybody, get up on him and try to make him uncomfortable and slow him down.

"He was a little frustrated," said Overton, "but he's a tough player."

Freshman guard Isaiah Thomas also hounded Rochestie for much of the night and the Cougars' leading scorer acknowledged the efforts at times got him out of his game.

"They have a lot of success when they rotate some of those guards and really get after you," he said. "It's hard to run your sets and different things against them. You just have to break it down and start making plays. That's what they pride themselves on, getting after you defensively, and it worked tonight."

Rochestie isn't one to back down, however. The lefty sharpshooter steadied himself in the second half, hit 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and had the Cougs within two at 58-56 with his final 3-pointer with 4:24 remaining.

But the Huskies tightened their defensive focus following that shot and Rochestie didn't get off another shot until the closing seconds.

With the Cougars' clogging the lanes on defense, Thomas didn't have his usual success creating shots for Washington and finished with just six points. Overton helped pick up the slack there as well, hitting 3-of-5 from the field and 8-of-11 from the line with one of his more aggressive offensive outings.

But Thomas did make a critical contribution with the game on the line and the Huskies leading 62-58, letting the shot clock run down to nearly nothing before driving the lane and banking one of his gravity-defying twisters off the glass with 1:47 left.

"He's unbelievably quick," Rochestie said. "When you guard a guy who is smaller than you, you have to try to keep him in front. He's got tremendous quickness, great hesitation moves and knows how to use his body in the lane. He hit that big one down the stretch on me that I don't know how he got it up there. And I'll bet there's a lot of defenders that say the same thing after guarding him."